Batman: The Knight of Hope
by Steve Olson
Summary: Bruce Wayne has been Batman for nearly 2 years and now he is the only hope in protecting Gotham from a new threat; The Joker.
1. The Killing Joke

I do not own Batman or any of the Batman franchise, all characters belong to DC.

Author's Note: This story is a bit of a "remix" or "new take" of the world presented in The Dark Night.

It has been nearly 2 years since Bruce Wayne first put on his mask and become The Dark Knight of Gotham City. Generous millionaire by day, and masked vigilante by night, he was bringing a new light of hope to Gotham. With his relationship with Rachel Dawes getting serious, Bruce Wayne was finally beggining to feel satisfied with his life. Unfortunately for him, some men in the world can't stand for symbols of peace-some men just want to watch the world burn. Somewhere in the dark alleys of Gotham, in an abondened apartment, a man was planning to bring an end to Gotham's hero.

Mobsters were gathered around a table when the man walked before them with makeup that made him look like a clown.

Tony, a new mobster in town stood up and slammed his big arm on the wooden table.

"You best not be wasting my time!," exclaimed Tony with rage.

"You some sort of a joker?," asked Johnny, Tony's right hand man in his crime organization.

"Well well well, funny that you should say that!," said the mysterious man with a proud grin on his face.

"They don't call me the Joker for nothing," the man said this with a low but heavy tone that left the room feeling eerie.

The Joker let out a maniacal laugh, "So any of you fine gentlemen up for a game of cards? Go ahead, pick a card, any card!," he exclaimed, bursting with excitement as he held out a deck of playing cards.

"Enough games clown!," Johnny yelled as he grabbed the Joker by the collar of his purple suit and held him against a wall.

"Hold on Johnny...pick a card," said Tony out of curiousity.

"You heard the man old Johnny boy!," said the Joker with laughter.

"Uh...alright boss...," Johnny slowly reached out for the card, slightly trembling with fear.

"Now put it back." said the Joker with a sinister grin on his face.

Johnny shook with fear as he put the card back into the deck.

The Joker quickly shuffled the cards and placed a card on the table.

"Go ahead Johnny boy, flip it," said the Joker while laughing.

"Hold on, something doesn't seem right here...," said Johnny in a voice full of fear.

"Damn it Johnny! Just flip it!" yelled Tony with anger.

Johnny reached out and put his hand on the card. As soon as he flipped it he held it up near his face to see what was on the card. At that same moment, the card exploded in a controled range, and managed to leave Johnny's face blown right off. Johnny fell to the floor dead.

The other few mobster thugs in the room quickly reached for their guns as the Joker let out his maniacal laughter again.

"Boys hold your fire. No normal man would have the guts to kill one of my close men...I like this guy." said Tony with a small grin.

"Sit down clown, let's talk business," let out Tony with a bit of laughter.

"I'm glad we see eye to eye now, I didn't want to BLOW this deal!" exclaimed the Joker as he sat down and let his laughter fill the room.


	2. Birth of Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any characters associated with him. All belong to DC.

Meanwhile in downtown Gotham, Bruce Wayne was preparing to enjoy a wonderful evening with his girlfriend, Rachel Dawes.

"Have a seat my lovely lady." said Bruce with a grin as he held out a seat for Rachel in one of Gotham's fanciest restaurants.

"Oh Bruce thanks, but you seem a bit too happy today, what's going on?," asked Rachel with a smile.

Bruce slowly reached out to put his hands over Rachel's.

"Look Rachel, I've been thinking...I have locked up Gotham's most dangerous criminals over the last two years, the only criminals left are just common crooks that the police can easily handle. Any big mobsters left are too afraid now knowing that Batman is out there, even if he stops showing up, that's something that they won't forget, said Bruce with a bit of relief on his face.

Rachel looked at him with a bit of a puzzled look on her face.

Rachel let out her words slowly, "Bruce, what are you saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying that Gotham doesn't need Batman anymore. He's already given hope to the people of Gotham, they aren't afraid to stand up for themselves now." Bruce took a moment to pause.

"Rachel, you said that when the day came where I could stop being Batman, then we could be together," his hands hands got a little tighter on hers now, "Rachel, will you marry me?" he let out with a huge grin on his face.

Bruce reached into his tuxedo pocket and placed an expensive looking diamond ring on the table.

"Well that's a silly question...," Rachel looked down as she said this and Bruce felt a bit disappointed.

"Oh I see...well sor-," Bruce was quickly interrupted.

"Bruce you know I will, I'll marry you," Rachel exclaimed with an even bigger grin on her face.

Bruce had never felt so happy in his life, at least not since the murder of his parents. Things were finally looking brighter for him, and they were looking just as bright for the streets of Gotham.

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned apartment, the Joker was planning to bring darkness back to Gotham.

"Tony Tony Tony, tell me, how afraid are you of the night?," asked the Joker with a grin.

"I ain't afraid of anything in my town clown!," shouted Tony.

"Oh really...then tell me, what's the biggest crime you have committed since you started running this little "mafia" of yours...well if you can call it that," said the Joker with a cold look in his eyes.

"I thought you were here to do business, not mock my business! Tell me why I shouldn't just shoot you dead right now!," exclaimed Tony with anger.

The Joker slowly stood up and reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out an odd radio frequency device.

"You wouldn't shoot a man who holds your life in his hands, would you?," asked the Joker with a cold smile.

"What are you talking about?," asked Tony with fear in his voice.

"I know all about your pacemaker Tony...," the Joker let out a laugh,"and this device here...it can stop it, slow down your heart...and that's not very fun for you," he said while laughing some more.

"You're bluffing...there's no way...," said Tony before he was stopped.

The Joker clicked the button on his device and Tony felt his heart stop.

Tony clenched his chest while his mobsters surrounded the Joker as he laughed.

"Relax...it was only a joke." said the Joker with a deep smile as he clicked the button to turn the pacemaker back on.

"You bastard...alright, what do you want?" said Tony as he caught his breath.

"Your men...they work for me now!" the Joker said this with a coldness in his voice.

"And what makes you think they will follow you?" asked Tony.

"Well, it's simple Tony. I can give them what they really want. You are just a coward. A man who hides behind his money. With the Batman around, you have nowhere to go but down in your business!" the Joker looked down on Tony as he said this.

Tony's mobsters appeared to be filled with interest as the Joker spoke.

"I can bring them the downfall of the Batman. You see, killing him would be too easy, it wouldn't change anything. He's changed Gotham forever, given the people too much hope. Now, things will never be the same for criminals like you. But I can break him, destroy everything he stands for! After that, anybody will be free to take all the money and power that they want. So what do you say boys? Come with me and bring the fall of Gotham, or stick with your petty boss?," said the Joker with a devilish grin.

More than half on Tony's men in the room walked over to Joker's side.

"Well well, looks like I run your show now Tony!," shouted the Joker.

"Go ahead, walk away, I'll have you killed by the end of the night! I have the money to hire some of the best hitmen in Gotham!" exclaimed Tony with rage.

"Money?!," the Joker laughed. "Have you checked your bank account? All your money was stolen by my men this morning!," the Joker continued laughing.

"I really had no use for more men either, and I already had your money so I simply came here for...a little fun." the Joker once again had a cold stare in his eyes.

"Unfortunately it's time for me to go...," the Joker and his new followers began walking out the door. Before closing the door the Joker looked back and said, "Oh and Tony, you might want to look underneath the table. I hate to spoil surprises but I know you'll love this one," he exclaimed with a laugh as he shut the door behind him and grabbed a nearby gasoline canister and began pouring the gas by the door.

"Always come prepared boys," the Joker said with a happy smile as he lit the fire. "Let's get out of this dump."

Back inside, Tony looked under the table and to his horror, there were several bombs strapped underneath with all the timers set to explode in fifteen seconds.

"Shit! We need to get out of here!," shouted Tony in horror.

"The windows have metal bars on them boss! The only way out is the door!" shouted one of Tony's men.

Tony quickly ran to the door and tried turning the doorknob. His hand was burned by the intense heat caused by the flames on the other side of the door.

Tony looked down at his hand and saw it badly burned, at that same moment, the bombs went off and completely destroyed the apartment. There were no survivors.

Down in the alley, the Joker's insane laughter could be heard.


	3. Glagslow

Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman franchise, it belongs to DC.

Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes had just finished their dinner and were now heading towards Bruce's black Lamborghini Diablo GT model car.

"This sure will be a night to remember now, won't it Bruce?" asked Rachel with a wide smile.

"Oh yes, a night I never want to forget...I can't say that about many nights now can I?" Bruce replied with a bit of laughter.

Just as the couple reached Bruce's car, they notice two police officers nearby answering a distress call from their radios.

"What's going on?" asked the younger looking officer to the older, more experienced looking one.

"There's been an explosion in some abandoned apartment. Could be gang violence, word is that Tony and his men were in the area tonight...," he paused for a second. "Well this could be dangerous, let's hope the Batman is around in case things go bad, let's go."

The two officers rushed off in their police cruiser towards the scene of the crime at the other end of Gotham.

Rachel could immediately see the worried expression on Bruce's face.

She put her arm on his shoulder and began to speak.

"Bruce...you should go, you heard them, they need Batman." she said calmly, but Bruce noticed a bit of dissapointment in her voice.

"No...they can't rely on me forever...and I promised you that I wouldn't do that kind of thing any more." Bruce replied calmly.

"But Bruce, innocent people could get hurt, we both know that you wouldn't let that happen," said Rachel, expecting Bruce to take off as soon as she said it.

"Rachel...Gotham can take care of itself now...for years I trained to in order to fight off crime here, and I have done that just fine...for two years I fought as Batman." Bruce took a minute to think.

"Maybe Gotham isn't ready to let go of Batman, but I am, I have done my part. The only person that matters to me now is you Rachel." Bruce looked into her eyes as he spoke.

Rachel could not believe what she was hearing, but she liked it. She felt selfish for that, but she finally had Bruce to herself and didn't have to worry about him getting hurt while fighting crime.

The two shared a romantic kiss and finally got into Bruce's car.

They drove off towards Wayne Manor where they would soon be spending the rest of their days together.

Meanwhile, the Joker had relocated with his men to an abadoned warehouse that used to be a meat factory near the outskirts of Gotham.

"Hmm...this hideout is too cliche. I LIKE IT!" exclaimed the Joker with a laugh.

"With all due repect sir," said Jack, one of the Joker's men, "what exactly is your plan to bring down Batman?"

"Jackie...Jackie...Jackie...the funny thing about that is, I DON'T HAVE ONE! shouted the Joker.

In a menacing tone he said, "You see...the thing about plans is...theg are too predictable." He grabbed Jack by the collar of his black dressy suit, "You want to do this by the book? Simply be...another mindless criminal, hmm?"

Jack began to tremble a little as the Joker's crazed eyes stared right into him.

"No, no!...the best of the best, they make things up as they go. If we know what we are doing, so does Batman." said the Joker calmly.

With a trembling voice, Jack asked,"So uh...what do we do then?"

The Joker quickly pulled out a knife a pocket in the inside of his suit and stabbed Jack directly in his right ear.

Jack dropped to the floor as the other men were surprised at the brutality of their new boss.

"Don't you hear a damn thing! We make this up as we go!" shouted the Joker as he began laughing.

The room became quiet as the men began to realize how serious the Joker actually was beneath his clown appearance.

"Now that everyone understands...who wants to play the waiting game?" asked the Joker as his laughter tore through the room.


End file.
